Obama Back to Parity With Republicans on Job Creation

November 8, 2011

By JAKE TAPPER

Image Credit: Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

After jumping ahead of Republicans in Congress by 15 percentage points on whom they trust more to help create jobs, President Obama has returned to parity with his opponents in new ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Obama 2012 campaign officials had previously heralded the president’s lead as evidence that his push for his jobs bill was resonating with voters. Citing the ABC News/Washington Post poll indicating that in September, the president held a lead of 49 to 34 percent, senior adviser David Axelrod wrote in a memo released to the press, “Trust in creating jobs has gone from a tie in early September to a 15 percent advantage for the President.”

In the new poll, however, when asked “Who do you trust to do a better job creating jobs,” 40 percent of respondents cited President Obama and 40 percent cited the Republicans in Congress. You can read more on the poll HERE.

The confidence gap has turned to a confidence deficit for Obama in 12 key swing states, according to a Gallup poll of the battlegrounds released last week.

Voters in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin all said they trust a generic “Republican candidate” over Obama when it comes to handling the issue of unemployment.

Forty-nine percent of respondents in a combined survey of the swing states said they think Republicans would do a better job solving the jobs crisis, while 42 percent favored Obama. The poll, conducted between Oct. 20-27, has a margin of error of three percentage points.